. >> reporter: tax reform, entitlement, jobs and spending among the top issues for americans. gun control, climate change and international affairs are also on the agenda. you really don't have four years now. it will start to slip away very quickly. you've got to set some priorities because the president's time, the secretary of state's time, secretary of defense's time is pretty limited. you better know what you want to a believe in this three years or so. >> reporter: -- want to achieve in this three years or so. >> reporter: so will the outside ga really work? former insiders aren't sure. >> i think that's a new way to play it, a tough and dicey way to play it. >> reporter: the new harder line was evident from democrats on meet the press, senator schumer pushing back they've months on the budget in exchange for cooperation on the debt ceiling. republican senator roy blunt of missouri says president obama should study president lincoln. >> when hard things get done, they get done because a president decided he was going to do what was necessary to get them done and that mea